Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft provides the Montreal Impact a chance to build the foundation for its MLS roster, and the club will have some decisions to make based on how much it wants to spend and which direction it wants to go off the bat.
Designated Players Julian de Guzman, Andres Mendoza, Mustapha Jarju, Branko Boskovic, Frank Rost, Milton Caraglio, Omar Bravo and Jeferson are all free for the taking (although Rost is likely to return to Germany after a few-month stay with New York), giving the Impact the option to make a major investment immediately.
Other intriguing names on the unprotected list include Brian Ching (although the veteran striker has reportedly said he will retire if selected), Freddy Adu, Andy Williams, Sanna Nyassi, Bobby Convey and Justin Mapp.
According to The Oregonian, the Portland Timbers have a deal in place with the Impact to not have any players taken, stemming back to the Timbers agreeing to loan Ryan Pore to Montreal during this past season. That leaves 17 other teams to sweat out the draft process, in which a team can lose no more than one player.
Which players do you think the Impact should take? Should they go for any of the high-priced talent available? Whom do you expect to be selected?
Share your thoughts below.
absolutely montreal should take nate jaqua. he’s a goal machine and holds the ball up well. his height makes him strong in the air and he’s a handful for any defender #classyimpactmisinformation
Mendoza is a legitimate goal-scorer that could use a change of scenery.
Jeferson is also a quality player that never really got a chance at SKC.
Valentin
Cuesta
Nyassi
Santos
Freeman
Barnes
Grabavoy
Wahl
Ekpo
Sinovic
Switch Sinovic with Bravo if you are willing to overpay for quality but not draw in many fans that he was signed to draw in.
lol
You’ve clearly plagiarized Adam Cristman’s bio.
SKC fans we chanting for Vermes to bring in Bravo vs. Houston….I would say he was a success with them.
Jean Valjean on the back line. He could wear the 24601 jersey.
Savoir-Faire in central mid: he is everywhere!
Jean Girard up top.
But not Pepe LePew: he’d stink up the joint.
Go attacking with Freddy Adu, Bobby Convey, Sanna Nyassi, and O’Brien White
Ha! FYI gets my vote for “Post of the day”
Gregg Berhalter, Frankie Hejduk, Jovan Kirovski.
lol
Boyens, Nyassi, Mendoza, Da Luz, Hernandez, Weaver, Stephens, Mendes, Convey, and Boss
I guess it always depends on whether they’re going to select players to use, or players to trade. Mock expansion drafts wholly dependent upon assumption of players to stick around….TFC and Vancouver (the other Canadian sides) did the opposite, and I think it hurt them. Some very good talent in the draft, really depends on what they want to do but for me the absolute must selects include…
Barnes – NE
Gavin (or Valentin) – Chivas USA
Quaranta – DC
Warshaw – Dallas
Stephens (or Cardozo) – LA
Harrington (or Sinovic) – KC
They other 4 players are a crap shoot, but plenty to choose from…Mikulic (bad attitude) – (CHI), Adu/Mapp/Nakazawa – (PHL), Fucito/Carrasco/Wahl (SEA), Convey (SJ), Grabavoy/Russell (RSL), Ballouchy/Mendes (NYRB)….
The more i look at the recent drafts the more i know the quality has improved considerably. For reference, people should look back at the chaff that was available to TFC in 2005.
Ives…. any “inside” info to let you know what players Montreal may be looking for?
Brian Ching says he will retire if he’s selected: link to chron.com
D Zarek Valentin
D Seth Sinovic
D Bobby Burling
D Darrius Barnes
D Kosuke Kimura
M Austin da Luz
M Paolo Cardozo
M Mike Fucito
F Paulo Arujo Jr.
F Diego Chaves
Average age is 24.
Or M Sanna Nyassi for Kimura, D Yamith Cuesta for Chaves.
Which is one of the reasons Houston didn’t bother to protect him! I don’t think he’s selected in any case, he has a significant salary, he’s getting old, and plans on retiring after one year. If Montreal selects such a player when there is so much young cheap talent available, their front office should be fired.
I wouldn’t be so surprised if Houston loses Cruz. He’s a workhorse on the field and fits well in the Dynamo system, but tends to underperform and is in danger of becoming dead weight during the offseason.
Gotta hope they’ll take at least one Canada Intl. Attakora would be a good get.
Hopefully this will be like last year, with Colorado making big pickups somehow during an expansion draft!
You got the two starting LB and RB in Francis and Kimura, respectively.
Montreal would be stupid not to select them and try to test the waters with some unproven players.
Pretty classless on Chings part. If I can’t have my way I’m taking my ball and going home. What a cry baby.
Gotta imagine they’ll look for youth and start building now. With that in mind, projected selections:
Zarek Valentin (D)
Austin da Luz (M)
Freddy Adu (M)
Josh Ford (GK)
Soony Saad (F)
Eddie Ababio (D)
Justin Meram (F)
Jeremy Hall (D)
Paolo Cardozo (M)
Hunter Freeman (D)
I think the right attitude to have about expansion drafts is that you want players who are cheap and young. Some players you pick b/c you think that in 2-3 years they might be a real solid MLS player. But you don’t want to pick anyone with big salaries, injury histories, age. It’s also worth taking a flier on a player who might be headed to Europe.
But in this day and age in MLS, with the cap being what it is, multiple DP slots, you do NOT build your team via the expansion draft. You get maybe 2 starters (your first year), a couple of guys who might contribute in year 2 or 3, maybe a player you can trade to another team for a draft pick or allocation money.
You forgot, he is Sigi’s all-time favorite.
Jeremy Hall might have a conniption. 4 teams in 3 years…
It’s still pretty tough first year in. You really do need some experienced players, and you can’t do it all with 3 DPs (if one even goes for that first campaign). Probably I’d think in pairs (one for now, one for later), and try to stick with quality in the front and back of the park–you might not play pretty through the MF, but you wouldn’t get lit up and you can steal points on the counter.
What a great sign for the talent pool of the league that there are so many good players available in the expansion draft, compared to the ones from just a couple years ago. The Impact really have no excuse to not be a playoff team right out of the gate.
all i know is if they don’t pick Robbie Russell, Andy Williams, Ned Grabavoy, or Paulo Jr. from RSL they are in outer space. As a fan of the league I love the mentality and style Salt Lake have had over the last few years. Simply outstanding. Picking anyone from Salt Lake gives you someone who’s played for future national team coach Jason Kreis
There aren’t many soccer leagues, none off the top of my head at least, that make you play for a team you have no desire to play for when you are already on another team. How does being forced to go play for a team you have no desire to play for make you a cry baby?
how is it classless? He has been with Houston since they existed and wants to retire with them.
Chaves (FW Chicago)
Fucito (FW Seattle)
Adu (MF Philly)
Sinovic (MF Sporting KC)
Quaranta (Winger/MF DC)
Cardozo (Winger/FW LA)
Convey (LB San Jose)
Boxall (CB Vancouver)
Warshaw (DM/Defender Dallas)
Valentin (RB Chivas)
If I ran the FO here’s my list (4-4-1-1)
F: DESIGNATED PLAYER – NICOLAS ANELKA
CAM: DESIGNATED PLAYER – RONALDINHO
LW: Adu
RW: Quaranta
LCM: DESIGNATED PLAYER – STEPHEN APPIAH
RCM: Marcelin
LB: Convey
RB: Barnes
LCB: Mendes
RCB: Riley
GK – Seitz
SUBS: Saad, Kandji
Here’s My Line Up:
————— DP_Anelkka ————–
————— DP_Ronaldinho ————-
– Adu ————————- Quaranta -
——— Marcellin – DP_Ronaldinho ——-
—————————————–
—————————————–
Convey—— Mendes —- Riley —— Barnes
—————————————–
—————– Seitz ——————
A little FLASH/FLAIR
Lot’s of Speed and Athleticism. Somewhat Cheap.
Oooops!
————— DP_Anelkka ————–
————— DP_Ronaldinho ————-
– Adu ————————- Quaranta -
———– Marcellin — DP_Appiah ——–
—————————————–
—————————————–
Convey—— Mendes —- Riley —— Barnes
—————————————–
—————– Seitz ——————
Don’t forget Raison d’etre in goal and supersub Je ne sais quoi.
Good idea, but I think it’d be a better idea to trade for a fourth DP slot and sign Messi. That way Quaranta could come off the bench for a late game “impact.”
Yep, I would go with experience. And these three have tons of it. Add Ching if you need a youngster.
What about Pele? What’s he up to now days?
wann, re-read abc’s post. He’s right. Besides, if I were Ching and had the injuries I’ve had over the past several seasons, I wouldn’t want to risk playing in cold weather in the late spring or early fall, either.
Have you spoken with Mikulic, or did he just kick your puppy dog? Bad attitude? uuuuhhhh, sure.
Jeferson sucks.
Can any current MLS club say that an expansion team could fill their starting 11 with former players that are on the current unprotected list?
Jesse could do a Chicago Fire reunion tour in Montreal:
Zach Thornton (Chivas)
Stephen King (DC)
Jack Stewart (Dallas)
Chad Barrett (LA) or Dasan Robinson (LA)
Justin Mapp (Philly)
Andy Williams (SLC)
Tim Ward (San Jose)
Nate Jacqua (Seattle)
John Thorrington (Vancouver)
last pick anyone on our current roster
Credit to MDSCIan for compiling the list.
Pele is currently too busy siding with Blatter, he just said there’s no racism in European soccer.
this would do me just fine for Christmas!
I agree, but part of the offset of the cost of signing Bravo is the large draw in the Mexican community. I don’t think (correct me if I’m wrong) Montreal has as large a Mexican community as Kansas City.
Me…
The Anelka thing is not a pipe dream. The Impact have reportedly have talked with his agent But this was before china offered Anelka about 9mil a year to play there.
Some of the Internationals unprotected will have problems getting Canadian work visas. Probably why they felt safe leaving them open. (Example: Sanyang on Seattle)
Please don’t take A. Alvarez! /sarcasm. Go have a “nightmare” in French Canada.
Anybody know how much money the owners are willing to spend? We know that teams make their decisions on who to leave unprotected partially based on financial concerns; No doubt the Impact will do the same in choosing their squad. Given that goal scorers in this league are hard to come by, I’d expect that they’ll splurge in this area, probably on a DP. I’d love for them to take Freddy Adu, though, and give him the keys. Once and for all we could find out what he could be, or what he’s never going to be. Either way, it would make me happy to know.
I too would like to see this approach. If he is a bust then you let him go at the end of the season. Low risk/high reward. Also i fthey were able to secure a top quality DP striker who would have the CLOUT to say “GIVE ME THE DAMN BALL” he would have to give it up or risk further damaging his rep.
they could offer $15 mil and Anelka wouldn’t go there….Montreal is beautiful and close to the States
Can’t be;ieve Costly is on this list…He is going to be monster after a 1/2 year in the league. It usually takes foreigners at least a 1/2 year to get acclimated.
De Guzman is more likely
I dont blame him….Still undrerrated
“Close to the States..” True, but irrelevant.
Costly also packs a serious salary wollop that Montreal might not be willing to pick up in an expansion draft.
G Greg Sutton
M Justin Mapp
D Zarek Valentin
M Sanna Nyassi
M Austin DaLuz
M Danny Cruz
D Darius Barnes
F O’Brien White
D Nana Attakora
F Peri Marosevic
3 Canadians, balanced core, total cost 748K (Mapp and White only ones $100K or over). Adrian Cann and Joey Gjertsen could be sentimental choices as ex-Impact players.
quaranta, birchall, phelan, coundoul, o’rourke, mapp, zizzo, paulo jr., costly, burling. put money on those names
It really doesn’t matter who they pick. If history has taught me anything, at least some of the players they pick will end up getting shopped around and even traded.
Didn’t Berhalter retire?
Didn’t Seattle get Sanyang from Toronto? What country do you think Toronto is in?
yuck
Adu
Bravo
Fagundez
Nyassi
Thorrington
Ianni
Valentin
Cruz (Houston)
Chaves
Quaranta
It’s a little goofy when I’m supposed to honor his desire to be in Houston when their listing of him as available is at least nominal betrayal/lack of reciprocity. If you choose to game the system you risk the consequences. Buy the ticket take the ride.
The “next-level” analysis would be that there still remains room for bluffing and calling in this card game, and Montreal can still draft him knowing they’ll force Houston to compensate them for “return of poster boy.” In that sense this pressures Houston while it threatens Montreal….Houston likes to play hardball but if Ching says he’ll retire if stuck in Montreal, lot of pressure on Houston to do a deal if he gets drafted.
In fact, it’s interesting to consider whether it starts to get a little JP Angel-like where you can push the leverage based on desperation.
From Houston’s perspective he’s about to GenAdi graduate and go on the cap. Notoriously cheap about such things and lost Ianni to Seattle in similar circs.
Adu is all they need
LOL Fagundez
Is is about what they should do…
DEF:
Adrian Cann
Darrius Barnes
Robbie Russell
MID:
Bobby Convey
Ned Grabavoy
Emmanuel Ekpo
Michael Stephens
Mehdi Ballouchy
FWD:
Freddy Adu
Sanna Nyassi
oops, James Riley instead of Robbie Russell… picked 2 from Rapids, lol
RSL*.. wow
not really, he’d be an automatic DP
They should go shopping in the Scottish Premier League and League of Ireland. Cheap players with a lot of talent.
Fagundez is a brilliant youngster that will be good for years to come. I would snatch him and Cardozo.
That’s a silly response.
First, in this economy, if you have a house that’s worth $200k or more, in most areas there’s no guarantee it sells fast. That’s a HUGE issue.
Second, he’s not going to play much longer–maybe a year or two. Which means…if your spouse has a good job, it may mean that you’re REDUCING your financial security by continuing to play and move to Montreal.
Third, the Canadians are serious about work permits. Again, if you’ve got a spouse with a job, she may not be able to work legally in Canada. It happened to Richard Mulrooney’s wife.
Fagundez is a homegrown player that is automatically protected and not available in the expansion draft. If they can sign protected players they might want to try selecting Donovan.
And he’s a 16 year old homegrown player whose name does not appear on the unprotected list, so LOL Fagundez
You could make one hell of a team with 10 protected players!
Like Newcastle, they should go shopping in France. And not just because it’s Montreal, France has the cheapest players of the big give leagues by far, a big reason why Newcastle is doing so well this year.
Just outside of a place called “playoffs” *groan*
Ligue 1 is also a physical league. These players are ready to fit into a physical league.
Dustyn Vermes???
If this is your thing, go back a few ETR episodes. They did it right through with best 11s and everything.
a team can lose no more than one player.